Ardraven Wohlcreft
Ardraven Wohlcreft, the death knight of Nebrussella. Once a paladin of Linden, God of the Sun and Life, Ardraven was a martial lord during the aftermath of the Sorceror War. Though disorganized with their leader's Avatars slain, the hordes of the Storm still lurked in the dark recesses of the world, gathered to places of magical power as insects to torchlight. One such place was the Monast at Nebrussella, once a sylvan land of the Elves, now corrupted and ruined by the ravages of the war. Here the benevolent Archmagi Keros the Wind reclaimed the mountains surrounded by the Nebrussella, excavating ancient ruins of the legendary Kelharrim and studying deeper lores of the world. As a servant of Good, Keros welcomed the protection of the Knights of Linden, of whom the young and prescient Ardraven Wohlcreft of Weifftein was newly a captain at the age of 20. He served as warden of the castle from 1659 to 1665, when after informing Ardraven of the supreme importance of the temple Altar recovered from deep in the Monast's ruins, and swearing him to protect it, Keros vanished from the world. Noone knew his fate, but his absence brought upon one of the last great sieges of the Storm-a full host of demon and devil armies from the north out of the Mountain of Madness beset the ailing fortress and its mountain fortifications. For so long peaceful, many of the officers and temple paladins had kept their families nearby, but these were hurried away for safety, for none knew if Keros would return in time to counter their dark sorcery. In secret, Ardraven knew Keros would return, knowing he would not allow the Altar he valued so great to fall into enemy hands, and in secret kept his true love, Dionysis there. She looked over the disused temple and its adjoining garden, oblivious to the outside warfare, hidden by Ardraven's zeal to protect her. This love was his downfall, for the demonic armies were unable to overcome the holy wards and guards against temptation knwon to holy Paladins, but the naive young woman was not. A demon infiltrator found her, enthralling her in the garden with a rare, beautiful but deadly flower from the demon realm, seeded among her roses. She pricked her finger on the hellish purple rose, and was overcome with a deadly poison. Ardraven found her, and despite all his divine abilities could not undo the evil poison. the clerics of his temple were slain or drained in holding back the ravenous Storm, and he could do naught but watch her die. In this moment a demon emissary arrived, offering him that which he loved most for that which the Storm craved most, the Monast and its secrets. Blinded in the moment, at the chance of saving her when her life ebbed so close to passing, he swore against Linden, his holy vows, his liege and most of all Keros, for deceiving him with the value of the altar, and cursed them all, surrendering the magical key words to the vaults under Castle Keros, allowing the demons to infiltrate the Monast, but then betrayed him and overran the castle, slaughtering and devouring the entire garrison, the last Knights of Linden. For his betrayal, Ardraven was cursed, robbed of life and pleasure, damned as a servant of darkness that could know no peace. In his hatred Ardraven blamed all for his fall, most especially Keros. Most cruel of all, the Devil held to his word, and Dionysis was maintained in her current state, a fevered dream from which she could not wake, at the edge of death. In this way, the Devil said, she would live forever. Ardraven, having lost all, was called to make new vows as a servant of darkness. The Devil believed he would become their vassal, and rise in power among the Storm, even to become one of its leaders. Ardraven's hate cooled into black embers, and he swore to protect the Monast of Castle Keros...from all who draw blood. His betrayed comrades rose as undead vassals, skeletal warriors and corrupted undead priests, but teh demons nad devils indeed bled, and Ardraven slaughtered them all as an undead warlord, with power and frenzy the Storm had never known-that of the Undead. Having slain all who walked and crawled in his castle, the mountains and the forest, Ardraven claimed the castle as his domain, and set to prayer over his love, for whom he would forever protect, and waited for Keros the Wind, who he would slay for costing him his life and love. For 326 years no living thing tread in Castle Keros. Though evil things crawled about in the forest of Nebrussella, drawn by the same horrid power that once drew the Storm, only the undead roamed Castle Keros, servants and members of a mockery of life, an undead court. Vampires and liches alike consorted in the halls, all pledging fealty to Ardraven Wohlcreft, secure from the outside world, until the coming of the Malkarites-descendants of the slave armies of the Storm, the goblinoids sought power and riches in the Castle, and paid for it in blood, each slaughtered rising as an undead warrior to reinforce the castle's fortifications. Amidst this a small group of adventurers slipped in beneath the castle's occupied guard, finding one of the ancient vaults in teh Monast ruins neglected for so many centuries... No more came in10 years, when the same party of adventurers returned by mysterious means to the castle's depths, slaying vampires and minor liches within the Mountains, and arriving in the gardens of the castle, inexplicably bypassing the garrison. They sought the Altar so long guarded, upon which lay the eternal Dionysis. Ardraven moved to slay them, for 'None who draw blood will set foot in Castle Keros', but they halted him with news to even his ancient ear-they had a cure, for his love's curse. An Ambrosia Rose, cure of all ailments supernatural and divine, plucked from the Demon World itself, and somehow in their possession. They gave it freely to Ardraven, and as its crushed petals fell upon her prostrate form, he could see the evil poison unravel, the dread curse upon her as a red hazy mist lift, and her eyes open for the first time in 300 years. She saw her love, in his fallen form, and called to him, and he heard. She looked not with fear, not with horror, not with judgemnet, but only love, forgiving him all he did to save and protect her. Then, all evil holding her lifted, she passed on as she would have so long ago. Ardraven, in a moment of serendipity, saw what he had become, what he had spent and done; his own realization of what was left of the man he was unraveled the torments of time and the agonies surrounding his darkened soul; as it unraveled, the negativity which had bound him in undeath, dissipated, as his hatred and arrogance gave way to an inner peace, and repentance as he had not known in 4 centuries. He collapsed into dust and rust, and his followers, the damned paladins, also found release, their souls unfurled, and in a brief glimpse, the party saw the men as they were in life; towering, noble and stalwart men in the service of life and peace. They passed, and the shadow over the domain of castle keros lifted like a fog in the warm rays of a sunrise long overdue.